Sir Michael Hicks-Beach brought forward his Budget on Thursday. He
proposes to accept Mr. Childers's addition of two- pence to the Income-tax, his tax on the property of Corporations, and the stamp-duty on foreign bonds and securities payable to bearer. He does not propose to substitute any indirect tax at all for the beer and spirit duty; and he will, therefore, take power to borrow not more than £4,000,000 in Exchequer or Treasury Bills to make up his deficit. He made no apology for not imposing an additional tax on tea, saying that what Mr. Childers, with all his weight in the country, could not do, it would be quite impossible for a Government in a minority to attempt. And as for enlarging the number of commodities subject to duty, that was not a policy to be adopted in a hurry at the fag-end of a Parliament.
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